By Kevin Mitchell, Guardian.co.uk
The promoter has bemoaned the death of loyalty in sport, but will not let that stand in the way of business.
Frank Warren says he feels "gutted and let down" by Amir Khan, who has followed Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe out the door. "I should have learned my lesson by now," Frank said. "Unfortunately, there is no loyalty in sport any more."
Nor is there a tooth fairy or any chance of West Ham winning the Premier League in our lifetime.
Chill out, Frank. You've got a whole stable of terrific fighters. Not sure what the problem is. Khan was a free agent, he fights for a living and he wants to break the States. Go for it. Don't be surprised, though, if Warren promotes him again in the future. There is a young guy called Kell Brook who'd love to fight Amir.
Well, so would a lot of people – because they'd get the biggest payday of their careers, and they'd fancy their chances in chasing down that soft chin. Dmitriy Salita couldn't find it, though. Nor will Ricky Hatton, if that fight ever happens.
Also, getting weary of the Khan-Hatton speculation. Do the fight, guys, or don't do it.
Murray counters
Andy Murray is big on boxing and has worked out with Amir Khan. But he doesn't reckon the training methods in the gym are much good for his tennis.
"The thing that's a bit different with boxing is that they are quite old-school, the training I've seen them do. I've seen quite a few boxers train and it's just different."
Old school is good. Particularly as his mate Amir trains with Manny Pacquiao who… no, leave it.
Arum the magician
You've got to hand it to Bob Arum. He walks away from the wreckage of Pacquiao-Mayweather (for which he was partly responsible, but let's not go over that again), and finds work for three of his other fighters who are vaguely in that mix around 10 stone.
The disgraced Antonio Margarito has a gig against Carson Jones (24-7-1) on the undercard of Manny's fight against Joshua Clottey in Texas on 13 March, and what a shock that is. Bob clearly has friends in Texas.
He's also trying to get Miguel Cotto to share a ring with Yuri Foreman at the Garden, maybe in June.
Cotto has had it tough lately, beaten up by Pacquiao then losing his father, to whom he was very close. I hope he's getting well paid, because he will probably not be in the right frame of mind for a while yet.
Say it ain't so, Evander
If you were in any doubt as to why 47-year-old Evander Holyfield was fighting 41-year-old Frans Botha in Kampala on 20 February, the answer is coming at you, courtesy of tmz.com, with crushing predictability.
Right. Money. And lots of kids and alimony and desperation and memories. For a guy who is always pleasant, who trusts in God and says he leads a righteous life, Evander certainly lives on the edge.
He hasn't fought since going the distance with Nikolay Valuev in December 2008. Botha's last ring appearance was a snoring match against the 39-year-old Cuban defector Pedro Carrion (8-1-1) in Germany in October in defence of his WBF title. No, I'm not sure why, either.
It can only get sadder.
Source: guardian.co.uk
Monday, 25 January 2010
Roach closes down Wild Card to visitors -- Manila Bulletin
By NICK GIONGCO, Manila Bulletin
Freddie Roach had the Wild Card Boxing Club closed down on Saturday afternoon when Manny Pacquiao showed up for the second day of training for the March 13 fight with Joshua Clottey of Ghana.
“The first day (Friday) Manny trained here, Freddie allowed the gym regulars to see the workout,” revealed Team Pacquiao security chief Rob Peters.
The second day Pacquiao suited up for training, everyone was told to pack up and return after the Filipino winds up his training,” said Peters.
“I think this would be the norm beginning now until the first week of March,” said Peters.
Roach’s decision to bar anyone from getting a sneak-peak into Pacquiao’s training is a sign that they are not taking Clottey for granted.
The gym will be closed for several hours – 12 noon until 4 p.m. – possibly until March 8 the day Pacquiao departs for Dallas, Texas, site of his 12-round defense of the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown.
Pacquiao was supposed to train last Thursday but since he and Roach were coming off the tiring Dallas-New York press tour, the trainer told his prized pupil to take the day off.
Meanwhile, tickets to the fight – priced at $700, $500, $400, $300, $200, $100 and $50 are selling fast.
Reports from the US show that half of the 40,000 tickets have been gobbled up by Pacquiao fans.
The 100,000-seat Cowboys Stadium will be reconfigured to 40,000.
“There’s not a single bad seat in the stadium,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.
Source: mb.com.ph
***
Freddie Roach had the Wild Card Boxing Club closed down on Saturday afternoon when Manny Pacquiao showed up for the second day of training for the March 13 fight with Joshua Clottey of Ghana.
“The first day (Friday) Manny trained here, Freddie allowed the gym regulars to see the workout,” revealed Team Pacquiao security chief Rob Peters.
The second day Pacquiao suited up for training, everyone was told to pack up and return after the Filipino winds up his training,” said Peters.
“I think this would be the norm beginning now until the first week of March,” said Peters.
Roach’s decision to bar anyone from getting a sneak-peak into Pacquiao’s training is a sign that they are not taking Clottey for granted.
The gym will be closed for several hours – 12 noon until 4 p.m. – possibly until March 8 the day Pacquiao departs for Dallas, Texas, site of his 12-round defense of the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown.
Pacquiao was supposed to train last Thursday but since he and Roach were coming off the tiring Dallas-New York press tour, the trainer told his prized pupil to take the day off.
Meanwhile, tickets to the fight – priced at $700, $500, $400, $300, $200, $100 and $50 are selling fast.
Reports from the US show that half of the 40,000 tickets have been gobbled up by Pacquiao fans.
The 100,000-seat Cowboys Stadium will be reconfigured to 40,000.
“There’s not a single bad seat in the stadium,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.
Source: mb.com.ph
***
Roach: Pacquiao-Mayweather the biggest ‘event’ of all time, but Floyd is scared of us -- Telegraph
By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph.co.uk
In the second part of an exclusive Telegraph Sport interview with Freddie Roach, the master trainer based in downtown Hollywood told me that he is still being asked, wherever he goes, to ‘Get the fight on’ between his charge Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. He says it is incessant. No surprise, really. It is a fight the world wishes to witness, and it is not the foregone conclusion that many have it down as for an event to now happen later this year.
I have spoken to several people closely associated with trying to make it happen, who have private reservations that it may never come to fruition. Roach believes it could be disastrous for boxing if it does not.
“Everywhere I go, people say ‘Get the fight on…we want to see Mayweather knocked out…’. I’m convinced the more I look at this that they are scared to fight us,” explained Roach, who has begun training with Pacquiao in Los Angeles for the WBO welterweight defence against Joshua Clottey in Arlington, Texas, on March 13.
“What I don’t like in this fight not happening is that both parties will lose a lot of fans. People are fickle. I want this fight to happen. I want to be the first one to beat Mayweather. If they don’t fight each other, there is a hole missing in the big picture.”
“It’s a science building a fighter, and we’ve done that with Manny. This was the perfect time for him to fight Mayweather. When, and if, it happens…it will be the biggest event of all time…” The fight was expected to generate in the region of 200 million US dollars, with television executives believing the highest pay per view figure of 2.44 million buys – for Mayweather v De La Hoya in June 2007 – would be broken in the match-up of the two master boxers from this generation.
The master trainer also revealed that Pacquiao has a growing respect for up-and-coming British fighter Amir Khan. “Manny has a lot of time for Amir. He even asked me for Amir’s address, because he wanted to invite him to his birthday party [in The Philippines]. Manny and Amir are good friends. They run together, Amir is the only one who can compete with him, Pacquiao’s hard to keep up with, and they go back and forth in their runs, and Manny likes Amir’s work ethic.”
Meanwhile, in the UK yesterday, Khan was on daytime national television…insisting that Ricky Hatton should “Chill out and retire…”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk
In the second part of an exclusive Telegraph Sport interview with Freddie Roach, the master trainer based in downtown Hollywood told me that he is still being asked, wherever he goes, to ‘Get the fight on’ between his charge Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. He says it is incessant. No surprise, really. It is a fight the world wishes to witness, and it is not the foregone conclusion that many have it down as for an event to now happen later this year.
I have spoken to several people closely associated with trying to make it happen, who have private reservations that it may never come to fruition. Roach believes it could be disastrous for boxing if it does not.
“Everywhere I go, people say ‘Get the fight on…we want to see Mayweather knocked out…’. I’m convinced the more I look at this that they are scared to fight us,” explained Roach, who has begun training with Pacquiao in Los Angeles for the WBO welterweight defence against Joshua Clottey in Arlington, Texas, on March 13.
“What I don’t like in this fight not happening is that both parties will lose a lot of fans. People are fickle. I want this fight to happen. I want to be the first one to beat Mayweather. If they don’t fight each other, there is a hole missing in the big picture.”
“It’s a science building a fighter, and we’ve done that with Manny. This was the perfect time for him to fight Mayweather. When, and if, it happens…it will be the biggest event of all time…” The fight was expected to generate in the region of 200 million US dollars, with television executives believing the highest pay per view figure of 2.44 million buys – for Mayweather v De La Hoya in June 2007 – would be broken in the match-up of the two master boxers from this generation.
The master trainer also revealed that Pacquiao has a growing respect for up-and-coming British fighter Amir Khan. “Manny has a lot of time for Amir. He even asked me for Amir’s address, because he wanted to invite him to his birthday party [in The Philippines]. Manny and Amir are good friends. They run together, Amir is the only one who can compete with him, Pacquiao’s hard to keep up with, and they go back and forth in their runs, and Manny likes Amir’s work ethic.”
Meanwhile, in the UK yesterday, Khan was on daytime national television…insisting that Ricky Hatton should “Chill out and retire…”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk
Morales will return against Alfaro -- ESPN
By Dan Rafael, ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- Former three-division champion Erik Morales will end a 2½ year-retirement and return to the ring in March, Mexican promoter Nacho Huizar told ESPN.com on Sunday.
Morales is scheduled to face former lightweight titleholder Jose Alfaro in a welterweight bout March 27 in Monterrey, Mexico, Huizar said.
"I think he'll sell pretty good, but not like he did last time," Huizar said, referring to Morales' onetime position as a significant pay-per-view attraction.
Morales (48-6, 34 KOs) is a former junior featherweight, featherweight and junior lightweight champion and one of the best fighters in Mexican history. He challenged for a lightweight belt in his last fight, but lost a decision to David Diaz in August 2007 before retiring.
There was a steady stream of talk of a possible comeback since then, but nothing ever materialized until now.
Huizar said it was Morales who called him and asked him to promote the fight in conjunction with his own company.
"After I heard he was going to come back, he called me and begged me to be his partner," Huizar said. "It's an honor to me for him to pick me. If I don't do it, somebody else will."
Morales-Alfaro will be televised in the United States via Integrated Sports pay-per-view.
Huizar said they signed a six-fight deal for three fights this year and three in 2011. Huizar acknowledged that six more fights for Morales, 33, is a reach at this stage.
"We'll see what happens," said Huizar, who said he promoted Morales' first five pro fights before Morales went on to become a major star under the guidance of co-promoters Top Rank and Fernando Beltran's Zanfer Promotions.
Even before the loss to Diaz, Morales was a shell of the great fighter who had been in three all-time slugfests with rival Marco Antonio Barrera and several other memorable battles.
Morales lost four fights in a row and five of his last six, including two knockout losses to Manny Pacquiao. The one victory Morales notched during his late-career slide came against Pacquiao in the first fight of their trilogy. Their March 2005 fight was the last time Pacquiao lost.
Immediately after losing a competitive fight to Diaz, Morales announced his retirement.
"That's it," Morales said at the time. "No more fighting. I am done. Too many punches, particularly to the head area."
Jose Morales, Erik's father who raised him in a Tijuana apartment above a boxing gym, supported his son's decision to retire, saying after the fight with Diaz, "Erik has taken too many punches. It has to stop."
Jose Alfaro (23-5, 20 KOs), 26, of Nicaragua, held a lightweight belt for five months in 2008. His last fight was an interim lightweight title bout in October where Antonio DeMarco stopped him in the 10th round.
Dan Rafael is ESPN.com's boxing writer.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
NEW YORK -- Former three-division champion Erik Morales will end a 2½ year-retirement and return to the ring in March, Mexican promoter Nacho Huizar told ESPN.com on Sunday.
Morales is scheduled to face former lightweight titleholder Jose Alfaro in a welterweight bout March 27 in Monterrey, Mexico, Huizar said.
"I think he'll sell pretty good, but not like he did last time," Huizar said, referring to Morales' onetime position as a significant pay-per-view attraction.
Morales (48-6, 34 KOs) is a former junior featherweight, featherweight and junior lightweight champion and one of the best fighters in Mexican history. He challenged for a lightweight belt in his last fight, but lost a decision to David Diaz in August 2007 before retiring.
There was a steady stream of talk of a possible comeback since then, but nothing ever materialized until now.
Huizar said it was Morales who called him and asked him to promote the fight in conjunction with his own company.
"After I heard he was going to come back, he called me and begged me to be his partner," Huizar said. "It's an honor to me for him to pick me. If I don't do it, somebody else will."
Morales-Alfaro will be televised in the United States via Integrated Sports pay-per-view.
Huizar said they signed a six-fight deal for three fights this year and three in 2011. Huizar acknowledged that six more fights for Morales, 33, is a reach at this stage.
"We'll see what happens," said Huizar, who said he promoted Morales' first five pro fights before Morales went on to become a major star under the guidance of co-promoters Top Rank and Fernando Beltran's Zanfer Promotions.
Even before the loss to Diaz, Morales was a shell of the great fighter who had been in three all-time slugfests with rival Marco Antonio Barrera and several other memorable battles.
Morales lost four fights in a row and five of his last six, including two knockout losses to Manny Pacquiao. The one victory Morales notched during his late-career slide came against Pacquiao in the first fight of their trilogy. Their March 2005 fight was the last time Pacquiao lost.
Immediately after losing a competitive fight to Diaz, Morales announced his retirement.
"That's it," Morales said at the time. "No more fighting. I am done. Too many punches, particularly to the head area."
Jose Morales, Erik's father who raised him in a Tijuana apartment above a boxing gym, supported his son's decision to retire, saying after the fight with Diaz, "Erik has taken too many punches. It has to stop."
Jose Alfaro (23-5, 20 KOs), 26, of Nicaragua, held a lightweight belt for five months in 2008. His last fight was an interim lightweight title bout in October where Antonio DeMarco stopped him in the 10th round.
Dan Rafael is ESPN.com's boxing writer.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
AMIR KHAN TO FIGHT MARQUEZ BEFORE HATTON -- Daily Star
By Steve Lillis, Daily Star
AMIR KHAN is set to ambush Ricky Hatton’s comeback by fighting Juan Manuel Marquez before his close friend.
‘The Hitman’ has put Marquez top of his list when he returns this summer, but WBA light-welterweight champion Khan has been offered a clash against the Mexican superstar instead.
Khan, 23, dumped promoter Frank Warren 10 days ago and signed a three-fight deal with leading American outfit Golden Boy.
A clash against the three-weight world champion Marquez in April would help launch Khan towards global stardom.
The Bolton fighter said: “It is my mission to fight men like Marquez and that would be my dream fight in America.”
The WBA have ordered Khan to face Marcos Maidana, but trainer Freddie Roach said: “Maidana is not well known enough and there is not enough money in that fight.
“If it gets built up, it could be a real big fight, so the thing is we are going to fight someone else and they have asked me if we would fight Marquez and I said, ‘Yes we will fight Marquez’.
“So that’s on the table now and he’s a possible opponent.”
Khan could be stripped of his world title if he fights anyone but Argentine Maidana.
Roach added: “Amir is very proud of his title and doesn’t want to give it up. Maybe we could put Maidana on this (Khan-Marquez) undercard and maybe the winners could fight each other.”
Juan Diaz and Paulie Malignaggi are other opponents on the short list for Khan’s eagerly-awaited Stateside debut.
Marquez, 36, was outpointed by Floyd Mayweather Jnr in September, and has drawn and lost a controversial split decision in showdowns against Manny Pacquiao.
He still holds the WBA and WBO lightweight titles having cleaned up the 135lb division.
Khan added: “I think he is made for my style and if I beat Marquez, it would make my name a lot bigger in the States.”
Source: dailystar.co.uk
AMIR KHAN is set to ambush Ricky Hatton’s comeback by fighting Juan Manuel Marquez before his close friend.
‘The Hitman’ has put Marquez top of his list when he returns this summer, but WBA light-welterweight champion Khan has been offered a clash against the Mexican superstar instead.
Khan, 23, dumped promoter Frank Warren 10 days ago and signed a three-fight deal with leading American outfit Golden Boy.
A clash against the three-weight world champion Marquez in April would help launch Khan towards global stardom.
The Bolton fighter said: “It is my mission to fight men like Marquez and that would be my dream fight in America.”
The WBA have ordered Khan to face Marcos Maidana, but trainer Freddie Roach said: “Maidana is not well known enough and there is not enough money in that fight.
“If it gets built up, it could be a real big fight, so the thing is we are going to fight someone else and they have asked me if we would fight Marquez and I said, ‘Yes we will fight Marquez’.
“So that’s on the table now and he’s a possible opponent.”
Khan could be stripped of his world title if he fights anyone but Argentine Maidana.
Roach added: “Amir is very proud of his title and doesn’t want to give it up. Maybe we could put Maidana on this (Khan-Marquez) undercard and maybe the winners could fight each other.”
Juan Diaz and Paulie Malignaggi are other opponents on the short list for Khan’s eagerly-awaited Stateside debut.
Marquez, 36, was outpointed by Floyd Mayweather Jnr in September, and has drawn and lost a controversial split decision in showdowns against Manny Pacquiao.
He still holds the WBA and WBO lightweight titles having cleaned up the 135lb division.
Khan added: “I think he is made for my style and if I beat Marquez, it would make my name a lot bigger in the States.”
Source: dailystar.co.uk
Mayweather balks at Mosley, Arum drafting Margarito-Pacquiao -- Examiner
By Michael Marley, Examiner
A solid source inside Team Floyd Mayweather has just informed me that Money May is balking at fighting Sugar Shane Mosley and that is the reason for the holdup on the announcement of a May 1 or a May 8 bout between the two American ring stars.
“Floyd did the math and Floyd is saying, why should I take a potentially difficult bout against Mosley for $10 million or less when I get $40 million or more to fight Manny Pacquiao and that could be an easier fight to win,” the in the know person said Saturday night.
The source said that a heavy internal discussion and debate is going on in the Mayweather camp as to whether Floyd’s best bet might to be stay on the sidelines and let Pacman get past Joshua Clottey on March 13. Then the Mayweather camp could try to restart the previously failed negotiations to make the Mayweather-Pacquiao mega bout.
“Mosley does ok, just ok, on the PPV against Mayweather,” an HBO source said. “Whereas, Manny and Floyd can break all the records and do something approaching three million buys on PPV. Upside on Manny and Floyd, which is the hottest attraction to the public, is unbelievable while upside of Shane and Floyd is limited.”
Meanwhile, the always cagey Pacman promoter Bob Arum is already making his contingency plans beyond the March 13 Clottey bout at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington where reportedly 20,000 tickets were sold on the first day of general ticket sales (Saturday).
Someone familiar with Arum’s thinking and strategy said the head of Top Rank is making moves to line returning from suspension Mexican Antonio Margarito a viable post-Clottey foe for Pacman.
“Margarito will begin training on Monday in Oxnard, CA., with his new trainer, former world champion Robert Garcia. Garcia is headed back from the Philippines where his world champ Brian Viloria lost his title in Manila,” this source said.
Margarito will fight some “tomato can” opponent on the Clottey-Pacquiao undercard, his first fight since losing to Mosley last Jan. 24 in Los Angeles.
“Arum figures all is forgiven by the public once Margarito is back in the win column. Then in the wake of having 40,000, maybe 50,000 in the Cowboys Stadium for Manny against Clottey, he sells Jerry Jones a second Manny bout, a natural against the Mexican Margarito. That fills up Manny’s fistic calendar for 2010 and Floyd and Manny is bigget than ever for 2011,” this insider said.
“If nothing else, Arum will shrewdly use Margarito-Pacquiao as a diversion to get Mayweather to agree to less money, less drug testing, less everything so he can cash in against Manny,” the insider said.
In the meantime, should Manny-Floyd come to fruition, Arum can pacifty Margarito with a still red hot all Latin revenge bout, Miguel Cotto against Margarito.
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
***
A solid source inside Team Floyd Mayweather has just informed me that Money May is balking at fighting Sugar Shane Mosley and that is the reason for the holdup on the announcement of a May 1 or a May 8 bout between the two American ring stars.
“Floyd did the math and Floyd is saying, why should I take a potentially difficult bout against Mosley for $10 million or less when I get $40 million or more to fight Manny Pacquiao and that could be an easier fight to win,” the in the know person said Saturday night.
The source said that a heavy internal discussion and debate is going on in the Mayweather camp as to whether Floyd’s best bet might to be stay on the sidelines and let Pacman get past Joshua Clottey on March 13. Then the Mayweather camp could try to restart the previously failed negotiations to make the Mayweather-Pacquiao mega bout.
“Mosley does ok, just ok, on the PPV against Mayweather,” an HBO source said. “Whereas, Manny and Floyd can break all the records and do something approaching three million buys on PPV. Upside on Manny and Floyd, which is the hottest attraction to the public, is unbelievable while upside of Shane and Floyd is limited.”
Meanwhile, the always cagey Pacman promoter Bob Arum is already making his contingency plans beyond the March 13 Clottey bout at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington where reportedly 20,000 tickets were sold on the first day of general ticket sales (Saturday).
Someone familiar with Arum’s thinking and strategy said the head of Top Rank is making moves to line returning from suspension Mexican Antonio Margarito a viable post-Clottey foe for Pacman.
“Margarito will begin training on Monday in Oxnard, CA., with his new trainer, former world champion Robert Garcia. Garcia is headed back from the Philippines where his world champ Brian Viloria lost his title in Manila,” this source said.
Margarito will fight some “tomato can” opponent on the Clottey-Pacquiao undercard, his first fight since losing to Mosley last Jan. 24 in Los Angeles.
“Arum figures all is forgiven by the public once Margarito is back in the win column. Then in the wake of having 40,000, maybe 50,000 in the Cowboys Stadium for Manny against Clottey, he sells Jerry Jones a second Manny bout, a natural against the Mexican Margarito. That fills up Manny’s fistic calendar for 2010 and Floyd and Manny is bigget than ever for 2011,” this insider said.
“If nothing else, Arum will shrewdly use Margarito-Pacquiao as a diversion to get Mayweather to agree to less money, less drug testing, less everything so he can cash in against Manny,” the insider said.
In the meantime, should Manny-Floyd come to fruition, Arum can pacifty Margarito with a still red hot all Latin revenge bout, Miguel Cotto against Margarito.
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
***
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